Deeplinks Blog posts about Net Neutrality

Since our last update on the upcoming net neutrality regulation in the European Union, a further compromise proposal has been developed, which heads to a vote in the European Parliament on Tuesday next week. On its face, the draft regulation appears to hit all the most important points, including providing that "When providing internet access services, providers of those services should treat all traffic equally, without discrimination, restriction or interference, independently of its sender or receiver, content, application or service, or terminal equipment".

But the devil is in the details. There are several loopholes in the current text which, if not resolved, would result in limited net neutrality protections. Between now and Monday, European activists are pushing for amendments to improve the draft regulation to close these loopholes. Their proposed amendments would address:

Last Thursday, Facebook announced changes and clarifications to its zero-rating program formerly known as Internet.org. It’s re-branded the service “Free Basics,” but the overall idea remains the same: mobile users in developing nations can access certain websites without having to pay for the data, by accessing those websites via Facebook’s system. While the changes Facebook has made are positive, we still have some concerns—especially about the dangers posed by Facebook’s central role. But let’s start with the positive.

Are you a computer scientist? A network engineer? Have you developed a new web-based protocol? If so, we want you to sign on to a statement [PDF] explaining to the DC Circuit Court that openness and neutrality are fundamental to how the Internet was designed and how it operates today.

Back in March the FCC released an Order that would prevent broadband ISPs from blocking, throttling, or interfering with their retail customers’ traffic based on the content or type of the traffic—in other words, to make sure ISPs adhere to net neutrality principles.

Americans won big on net neutrality in February, when the FCC voted to adopt new rules that would allow it to rein in the abusive and discriminatory practices of big telecommunications operators, such as blocking or throttling of Internet data, and charging content providers for access to an Internet “fast lane.”